The secret ‘Stanley’ Sigint facility at Chung
Hom Kok, Hong Kong, set up as part of Echelon (a similar facility is based on
mainland China).

Contrary to recent reports there are at least ten, not five, ‘eyes’ that
form part of the NSA-led Echelon2 ‘we steal secrets’ network that monitors
everyone globally, via wiretaps, PRISM and other technologies. These ten
sites and their sub-sites are listed below, compiled from a report by
journalist Duncan Campbell and from more recent updates/sightings (all
referenced via Internet sleuthing). We also provide an update on recent
revelations by whistleblower Edward Snowden.

2. The Washington Post has unearthed more NSA programs that gather data
from the Internet and telephone, including MARINA, MAINWAY and NUCLEON. No
doubt there will be more on these programs in days to come…

3. In addition the Washington Post “learned that similar orders [to the
wiretapping orders issued to Verizon] have been renewed every three months
for other large U.S. phone companies, including Bell South and AT&T, since
May 24, 2006. On that day, the surveillance court made a fundamental shift
in its approach to Section 215 of the Patriot Act, which permits the FBI to
compel production of “business records” that are relevant to a particular
terrorism investigation and to share those in some circumstances with the
NSA. Henceforth, the court ruled, it would define the relevant business
records as the entirety of a telephone company’s call database.” For more,
click
here .

4. The Guardian published
evidence , courtesy of whistleblower Edward Snowden, of how Britain, via
GCHQ, organised surveillance on G20 representatives, including Russian
leader Dmitry Medvedev and specifically the Turkish Finance minister. This
is not surprising as it is the role of Britain, via Echelon, to spy on all
European countries and any other countries within reach.

5. South China Morning Post has published details of
how the US hacked into China’s secrets . “According to a number of
confidential sources, a highly secretive unit of the National Security
Agency (NSA), the US government’s huge electronic eavesdropping
organisation, called the Office of Tailored Access Operations (TAO) has
successfully penetrated Chinese computer and telecommunications systems for
almost 15 years, generating some of the best and most reliable intelligence
information about what is going on inside the People’s Republic of China.”
The hacking takes place inside a suite of offices…based at NSA HQ at Fort
Meade. TAO includes “over 1,000 military and civilian computer hackers,
intelligence analysts, targeting specialists, computer hardware and software
designers, and electrical engineers.”

Intelligence requirements and collected data and signals flow round the
world between field stations, the RSOCs (Regional Sigint Operation Center),
and NSA’s National Sigint Operations Center (NSOC) located within its Fort
Meade headquarters. U.S. field stations operate in a single integrated
network with those of the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The main
collaborating organizations are Britain’s GCHQ located at Cheltenham,
England, the Australian Defence Signal Directorate (DSD) based in Canberra,
Canada’s Communications Security Establishment (CSE) in Ottawa, and the New
Zealand organization, the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB),
in Wellington.

These are the ‘five eyes’ that between
them cover the globe. Though this is only part of the story. There are many
other eyes that form part of Echelon. Some of these are listed below. It is
worth noting that one of these – a major facility – is in Hong Kong (and was
run by the British when Hong Kong was a colony). Another is located in
mainland China and was established as part of an agreement between the
Echelon countries and China after the US rapprochement and to assist in
surveillance of the then Soviet Union (the facility is still functioning,
but at whose behest is another question).

B. The Echelon network updated

Note: as far as we are aware the list of Echelon bases below is
up-to-date. There may be more bases to add. Corrections to the list are most
welcome.

1. USA

The NSA Sigint via Echelon traditionally covers Russia east of the Urals
and most of the Americas.

The U.S. Naval Security Group (NSG) operates a
Regional Sigint Operations Center at Kunia Tunnel , Hawaii, providing
for military requirements in the Pacific Rim. It administers and operates
several field stations, including ones at Guam and Sabana Seca, Puerto Rico.
These stations’ primary mission is the collection of civilian satellite
communications signals as part of the ECHELON system. Once complete, the NSA
Central Security Service’s Hawaii RSOC, presently under construction, will
replace all operations at Kunia Tunnel (the facility, located near Whitmore
Village, Oahu, occupies the former site of the large, circular antenna at
the Naval Computer and Telecommunications Area Master Station Pacific, or
NCTAMS PAC).

Yakima station, now known to be an NSA civilian run field station, was
initially equipped with a third large tracking dish to cover Pacific
regional Intelsat communications. The station was codenamed “COWBOY” and
continues to function as NSA field station F92.

Another RSOC is at the Medina Annex of Kelly Air Force Base, San Antonio,
TX. A naval Fleet Information Warfare center is located at Norfolk, VA.

Note…Jeffrey Richelson, for the George Washington University National
Security Archive, links the Air Force’s 544th Intelligence Group with
ECHELON operations and he places its Detachment 2 located at Sabana Seca,
Puerto Rico; Detachment 3 at
Sugar
Grove, VA (ordered to be closed), West Virginia; and Detachment 4 at
Yakima, Washington.

2. UK

Britain’s
GCHQ at Cheltenham is the co-ordinating centre for Echelon covering
Europe, Africa and the Soviet Union (west of the Ural Mountains).

Menwith Hill , near Harrogate in Yorkshire, is, like Pine Gap in
Australia, run undercover by the NSA and taps into all of Britain’s main
national and international communications networks. Although high technology
stations such as Menwith Hill are primarily intended to monitor
international communications, according to US experts their capability can
be, and has been, turned inwards on domestic traffic. Menwith Hill, in
particular, has been accused by a former employee of gross corruption and
the monitoring of domestic calls.

Morwenstow , Cornwall, is mainly run by GCHQ and operated by its
civilian field agency, the Composite Signals Organisation. Its codename may
be “CARDIGAN”.

3. Australia

Australia’s more extensive
intercept facility near Geraldton, Western Australia, opened in 1993. It
has four intercept dishes targeted on Intelsats orbiting above the Indian
Ocean. Among the tasks contained in the Geraldton dictionary are ones
related to North Korea’s economic, diplomatic, and military situation,
Japanese trade plans, and developments in Pakistani nuclear weapons
technology. The Australian government has said that Geraldton is a fully
integrated part of the global surveillance network, and in constant contact
with all ECHELON stations. Although it is under Australian command, the
station – like its controversial counterpart at Pine Gap, near Alice Springs
(which downlinks U.S. Sigint satellites) – employs American and British
staff in key posts.

[Another Australian intercept site, at
Shoal Bay near Darwin, Northern Territories, began satellite
interception operations in 1979, with two dishes targeted on Indonesian
regional communications satellites called Palapa. Since then the station has
expanded dramatically, with 9 satellite interception antennae in operation
by 1999. Shoal Bay is not, however, part of the ECHELON network, as
Australia refuses to share the raw intercepts with the United States and
Britain. Indonesia is one of the world’s most populous countries and most
lucrative emerging markets. Australians do not trust either the U.S. or
Britain not to exploit Indonesian Sigint from Shoal Bay for national
political or commercial ends.]

4. Canada

The fifth partner in the UK/USA alliance, Canada’s
Communications Security Establishment (CSE) entered the satellite
interception business in 1986, with the construction of the first of four
terminals at their principal interception site, CFS (Canadian Forces
Station) Leitrim, south of Ottawa. The Leitrim station is linked directly to
the U.S. Department of Defense communications network, and to NSA. Latin
American communications are a principal target of CFS Leitrim.

Other Canadian military SIGINT facilities are located at: CFB Gander
Newfoundland with a detachment from CFS Leitrim, CFS Masset, BC (under
remote control from CFS Leitrim) and CFS Alert, Nunavut.

5. New Zealand

In 1988 construction of the New Zealand and Australian sites began at
Waihopai, near Blenheim in New Zealand’s South Island and at Kojarena,
Geraldton, near Perth in Western Australia. The station at
Waihopai came into operation late in 1991. Inside the global Sigint
network it is designated as NZC333, and codenamed FLINTLOCK and monitors the
Pacific region by intercepting the ground signals from the commercial
communications satellite Intelsat 701. Targets of GCSB efforts, include
Japan, the Philippines, Argentina, France, Vietnam, and many small Pacific
island states. Intelligence from the station goes to all the
English-speaking intelligence agencies, including NSA and GCHQ. Staff
working at the base say that 20% of the data intercepted is relayed to the
U.S. without being examined in New Zealand.

Chung Hom Kok: little is known about this vast complex except for its
precise location (see photo at head of article)

8. China

It is known that an Echelon Sigint facility was set up in the Xinjiang
Uighur Autonomous Region. It was part of an arrangement with China to spy on
the USSR. It is not known exactly which year the highly secret facility was
constructed, though it is believed to have begun during the Nixon era. Nor
is it known if it is still in use as a shared facility within Echelon.

9. Japan

In 1978, NSA designed a new satellite interception station at
Misawa , Japan. This was an existing USAF Sigint site that until then
had focused on high frequency radio interception. The $700,000 project,
codenamed LADYLOVE, included the first of a complex of satellite earth
terminals and a new operations building.